Comfort and Reassurance
by Ivory Novelist
Summary: Ficlet in my Wyoming 'verse. [Preceded by "Mama Put my Guns in the Ground," "Blessed are the Pure in Heart," and "Gimme Shelter."] Castiel confesses something that he worries about to Dean, and Dean soothes him. No slash; strong/emotional friendship between Dean and Cas.


AN: Just a short ficlet in my Wyoming 'verse.

Dean&Cas strong, emotional friendship. Brief mention of Dean/OFC.

Cas is pretty much an aromantic asexual, just saying.

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Comfort and Reassurance

* * *

It's just past two o'clock in the morning when Dean gets home on Friday night, midnight blue jacket damp after the quick jog from the car port attached to the barn where he parked the Impala and the front of the main house. The rain's been coming down heavy for the last hour; the sound of it on the windowpanes fills the house. It's pitch dark inside, except for the glow of the digital clock on the microwave face. Dean shakes the water off his boots before he pushing his way out of them, leaving them by the door directly under the coat hooks. He takes off his jacket and hangs it up. He's sure Sam is asleep by now. His brother usually doesn't wait up for him when Dean goes to Kendall's. Typically, Dean won't even come back until the next day, but she's leaving early in the morning for Montana, where she'll stay until Wednesday. Dean decided that it was better if he just went home and slept in his own bed.

When he turns to glance into the sitting room at his left, it only takes Dean a moment to recognize the shape of Castiel on the sofa. He moves into the room careful not to make any noise, his socked feet soundless on the carpet. He leans over Castiel, trying to make out if the angel is asleep and wondering what Cas is doing here. The angel has his arms folded over himself, about mid-chest, and the knit blanket Dean and Sam leave on the sofa drawn over his legs to the waist.

"Cas," Dean says, voice low. He smoothes the dark hair back over Castiel's head. "Cas."

Castiel hums a noise and stirs, waking with a few blinks but no surprise.

"What are you doing here?" Dean asks.

"I didn't want to be alone at my place," Castiel says.

Dean's face crinkles at the bridge of his nose. "Why are you out here on the couch? You could've taken my bed. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Castiel frowns. "I do have a stomachache, though."

"I hope it isn't Sam's cooking," Dean says, not serious.

"Of course not."

"How about I make you some tea? I want a cup before I go to sleep anyway."

Castiel nods. "I would appreciate that."

Dean pets the top of Castiel's head again. "Okay."

He crosses over into the kitchen without turning on any lights and fills the electric kettle with tap water. He returns to the sitting room and sits in Sam's chair adjacent to the sofa on the left, leaning forward with his elbows on his thighs.

"How was Kendall?" Castiel says. He doesn't need to be told where Dean is when the man stays out all night, though Dean's sure Sam told him.

"Good," says Dean. "She's good. She's going away for a few days in the morning. That's why I came home. She doesn't need me in her hair when she's getting ready to go. Did you and Sam have a decent night?"

"Nothing unusual. We had dinner and spent a few hours in here together. You should've waited for the rain to stop before driving home."

"Nah. I could handle it," Dean says, though he likes that Cas worries about him. "I've driven through just about everything."

They're quiet, listening to the rain until the kettle hisses and shuts itself off. Dean takes down two clean mugs from one of the cupboards and picks out tea bags in the darkness. A chamomile blend for Dean and rose for Castiel, like always. He brings the mugs into the sitting room carefully and sets them on the coffee table to cool. "Want me to share the couch with you?" he asks Castiel.

Castiel sits up and scoots into the middle of the sofa to give Dean room. They arrange themselves so that Dean's sitting at the left end with his back against the arm rest and his right foot down on the floor and Castiel lies down next to them on the inside of the sofa and on top of him too, his head against Dean's shoulder. Dean wraps his arms around Castiel's chest and closes his eyes for a moment, nose and half his mouth just next to the back of Castiel's head. He hopes he doesn't smell like sex or too much like Kendall.

"Dean," Cas says.

"Yeah, buddy."

"If I tell you something important, will you promise to be sensitive about it?"

"I promise."

"Sometimes, I worry…. That you'll leave home one day for something else."

"Like what?"

"A wife. A family. Everything you and Sam never had."

"Cas—I'll never do that. I could never…. Not now. I already have a family. It's you and Sam. That's everything to me. If I ever wanted anyone else, they'd have to come to us. I can't give you and Sam up. I wouldn't be happy without you, right here." Dean's whispering now, voice thick with emotion. "Do you worry about this every time I go see her?"

"Not always," Castiel says. "And it's not just you. Sam worries me sometimes too. For my own sake and yours."

Dean holds the angel close to him, moves his left hand up Castiel's chest to grip the angel's shoulder, and presses a kiss into Castiel's hair. "It's okay," he says. "We're not going anywhere. I know he feels the way I do. We'll get a bigger house if we need to, but we're not giving this up. I'm not looking for anything else, hear?"

"Yes."

Dean crushes his cheek into Castiel's hair, and they lie squeezed together for a little while.

"Look at me," Dean says.

Castiel moves his head and tries to look back and up at Dean, his neck in an uncomfortable position.

Dean cradles the side of the angel's face with his right hand. "I love you." He kisses Castiel's hairline. "I love you with my whole heart."

Castiel smiles. "I love you, Dean."

Dean doesn't smile but his eyes glisten. He lets go of Cas's face, and the angle straightens his neck. Dean reaches down and lays his hand on Castiel's belly. "Geez, you probably worried yourself into a stomachache," he says. He starts to stroke the angel's belly up and down. When he feels Castiel's body loosen and relax a little, he changes to a circular motion. He can hear Castiel breathing softly and feel the slow rise and fall of his torso. They lie there like that for a while, Dean eventually stilling his hand and just holding it to Castiel's belly.

Dean almost dozes off, then remembers their tea. He pushes himself and Castiel up into sitting positions and they drink together in silence. By the time they finish, it's almost three o'clock.

"Feeling better?" Dean asks.

"The ache's gone," Castiel confirms.

"Good. I really need to go to bed." Dean sets his empty mug on the table. "Come sleep with me?"

Castiel nods.

The two of them move down the corridor splitting the house, all the way to the bedrooms in the back. Castiel strips down to his t-shirt and boxers, while Dean sheds all of his clothes onto his bedroom floor and changes into a sleep t-shirt of his own. They climb into bed, the rain now lighter on the window. Cas lies on his back and Dean curls into his side. The clean smell of the angel, his warmth, his gentle breathing, soft sheets, the sound of the rain. Dean passes out almost instantly.


End file.
